Craig Hoyle

Name: Craig Hoyle

Gender: Male

Age: 18 (turning 19 very soon)

Grade: 12

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Graphic novels, drawing, painting, football

Appearance: Craig looms over nearly all of his classmates at 6'7", and weighs in at about 355 pounds due to a glandular problem that has been diagnosed, but not yet treated (he has to finish high school so the surgery doesn't interfere with his learning). His round figure is usually draped by an XXL T-shirt with some sort of logo or picture on it (sports team, tourist destination, superhero, etc.) while he exclusively wears baggy jeans for pants. Despite the fact that he has some Hispanic and even some Asian heritage on his mother’s side, Craig appears to be strictly of Caucasian descent. Most of his body is a pale white, a complexion you'd expect to see on somebody who never sees the light of day. His habit of wearing T-shirts gives Craig a farmer's tan on his arms, neck and face, so unless he's shirtless, it would be difficult to tell that any part of him was pale to begin with. Since his legs don't have as much fat on them as one might expect, Craig possesses a somewhat top-heavy shape. His arms, conversely, are fairly flabby and look much larger. The irony in this is that Craig's legs are much stronger than his arms, since they have to hold him up all the time.

Craig's shaggy, dirty-blonde hair is kept in a rough bowl-cut with a length of about 2.5 inches. This serves him well, since his ears are rather large and long hair helps to partially obscure them. Not particularly handsome, Craig's face has all the plumpness of his body (of course, some girls probably find that cute). His nose is broad and short rather than long-bridged and pointed, which, when combined with the roundness of his cheeks and jaw line, brings his face even closer to that of an oversized infant’s (simply put, he has a ‘baby face’). His green eyes are in bad shape, and he needs to wear glasses at all times to correct his 20/200 vision. Without them, Craig is almost legally blind.

Biography: Craig was born just one school district away from Bayview High (about a 45 minute drive from St. Paul) to Marcus and Lauren Hoyle. Marcus worked as a janitor for a local hospital while Lauren was an aspiring artist with oil paintings as her medium of choice. The two were introduced to each other by Lauren's brother, Oscar Therriault, who worked the night shift with Marcus. Lauren was immediately taken by Marcus's offbeat humor, and the two began dating. They married three years later, and were just about ready to have their first child.

Unfortunately, there were complications in Craig's birth, and Lauren did not survive. Everybody who knew Marcus started to worry about whether he'd be able to deal with the grief of his wife's death and still be able to raise a child. Recognizing the same possibility himself, Marcus agreed to move to Bayview in order to live closer to both Oscar and his own sister Jennifer, both of which lived in the same neighborhood (Jennifer even lived on the same street). Each of the three had an equally large part in raising Craig.

Marcus became a janitor for Bayview Secondary, attempting to at least try and earn enough money to keep Craig fed and clothed. While he was at work, Oscar and Jennifer (who began dating and were married to each other before Craig’s third birthday, with Oscar moving into Jennifer’s house) babysat Craig. ‘Aunt Jen-Jen’, as the boy called her, was perpetually unemployed with a back injury and thus could watch Craig at any time while Oscar would join in after waking up from his morning nap following his night-shift (he still worked at the hospital, but Marcus quit after Lauren died there). Oscar got weekends off, however, and caught up to Jennifer’s babysitting hours by taking the young Craig around the park, carrying him before the boy learned to walk and holding his hand after he learned.

Aunt Jen-Jen and uncle Oscar noticed that for most of the time, Craig was incredibly easy to keep an eye on; he’d be content if he was given a couple of crayons and a few sheets of paper, scribbling for hours until the colored wax wore away to stubs. Even running out of clear room on the paper didn’t stop him, since he just scribbled over wherever he had colored. Marcus eventually found that his refrigerator was papered over with colorful scribbles attached to the door via magnets, and he didn’t have to hazard much of a guess as to who made them; there was only one four year-old child in the house, after all. The decision was a difficult one for him, but following some consulting with his sister and brother-in-law, Marcus brought Lauren’s paintings out of storage and began to hang them all around the house. Craig had gotten his love for art from his mother, and it was only fair that he should know about her work.

A five year-old Craig spent nearly as much time staring at those paintings as he did drawing. What used to be scribbles on paper had been refined into simple drawings of houses, trees and neighborhoods. Old pictures came off of the fridge and new pictures went up over time and, in an odd mix of uplifting and depressing emotions, Marcus noticed that many of the drawings imitated scenes depicted in Lauren’s paintings. Craig may or may not have started out with the intention of simply scribbling to kill boredom, but all three of his caregivers now recognized he had a very powerful interest in art.

Some trouble arose with Craig’s life as he entered and worked his way through elementary school. The first problem was his body itself. Craig was born normal-sized and had the average body of a toddler through his first three years of life, but his growth seemed to have accelerated beyond that of a normal child from the ages of four through six. Craig filled out both ways; he was taller than just about any other child in his class by an inch or two, and he was considerably heavier. He was deemed ‘overweight’ by a physician when he was five and, only a year and a half later, ‘obese’. While his height was written off as the fact that all children grow differently, Craig’s weight remained a mystery. He did spend a lot of time indoors drawing or reading comic books (a favorite of his since they contained mainly simple words and had a high picture content), but Craig neither ate a great deal of food nor seemed particularly inactive. In fact, he ran and played just like any other child when Jennifer, Oscar or Marcus took him to the park.

The next problem Craig had was that school was a difficult environment for him. The schooling itself was taxing on the boy; Craig’s reading and writing levels were sub-par, and his math was even worse. The only grades that Craig seemed to get that were consistently above a C were his art classes and social studies classes. Craig possessed a lot of interest in people and how they reacted to things, which was the main reason why he did well in social studies or humanities classes. The Bayview Elementary guidance counselor even noted how Craig would take some of his more abstract drawings into his office and ask HIM what came to mind when he looked at them. Regardless, even if he succeeded in a few classes, all of his C’s or D’s meant that Craig was in for a rough road all through school.

A subject of constant teasing from some of his classmates thanks to his obesity and poor academic performance, Craig made every effort to stay out of the social spotlight. Prior to high school, he didn’t involve himself with dances, sports or any other extra-curricular activities because he was afraid his lack of popularity would draw scrutiny his way. Though a very skilled drawer and painter by sixth grade, Craig did everything he could to make sure none of his art was showcased for fear of his talents being made fun of as well. Instead, all of his drawing was done in the privacy of his home. This trend of low self-esteem continued up to the end of eighth grade.

Ninth grade, Craig’s first year in Bayview Secondary School, was a year where many dramatic changes influenced and diverted the course of Craig’s life. Craig’s grueling growth patterns continued, and he stood at 6’4” his freshman year. His weight hadn’t been able to keep up as much as his height, slowly beginning to draw Craig away from ‘obese’ status to more of a simple ‘overweight’ figure. While he had been seeing a physician on a twice-yearly basis to record his growth and do routine checkups, the physician finally referred Craig to the hospital just outside of St. Paul (the same one his uncle Oscar worked at) in order to have some tests done. The diagnosis was definitive, and came as something of a shock to the whole family: Craig was a giant. Born with a defective pituitary gland, he had growth hormones continuously leaked rather than released in a controlled manner, causing his rampant growth. His life wasn’t in any danger, but Craig was slated to undergo a surgery to stop his growth after he was all done with high school, both because he was too young to have the surgery when he was diagnosed, and because he was struggling enough in school without brain surgery to complicate things. As such, the plan was to graduate, get his pituitary gland operated on, and then take a year off to rest while deciding if he was going to attend an art institute.

The most beneficial change in Craig’s life that high school had to offer, though, was the beginning of a social life. Over his years of working at the high school, Marcus Hoyle had become a close friend of the Bayview football coach. The football season started at the beginning of freshmen year, and signups were expected to take place over the summer. Knowing that his son would never sign up for a sport but also having faith that he could do well, Marcus managed to egg Craig into trying out for the team. Craig had an impressive stature, but his slow running speed and coordination limited his possible roles to lineman. This position on the team, though simple, proved to be perfect for Craig. Pleased with his ability to move things out of his way with just a little momentum, the coach allowed Craig on the team.

This capitalized opportunity saw Craig find a niche in Bayview Secondary unlike that of his previous school years. He thought of himself as ‘Craig the football player’ and, finally open with his art and drawing in the style of the graphic novels that he loved to read his entire life, ‘Craig the comic book artist’ as opposed to ‘Craig the fat kid’. Though he didn’t exactly rise to the top of the social pyramid through these talents of his, he did make a name for himself and, he hoped, reduce the amount of teasing he would receive. By the time senior year rolled around, Craig was 6’7” and a good 50 pounds heavier than he was entering Bayview, but he was just as excited as he was the first time he stepped on the football field. More kids may or may not have liked him, but more importantly, he liked himself.

Advantages: Because of his large stature, Craig holds a very strong presence wherever he is. Anybody who can get past his looks, however, finds a generally sweet guy who’s willing to go out of his way to make people happy. His peaceful, non-argumentative personality increases the chances of him getting along with somebody simply because he’s less likely to fight with them. If confronted with somebody who was bound and determined to hurt him or somebody he cared about, and there was no way words would ever solve the problem, Craig would attempt to intimidate the (likely smaller) aggressor, something his football background would help to back up.

Disadvantages: Craig’s aversion to fighting, while increasing his likeability to some people, practically sends out a signal to others that says “Hey, you can push me around”. Anybody who sees past the façade of a big scary football player can immediately recognize that Craig is essentially just a big coward. Craig has virtually no upper body strength, relying on his legs to push his weight when playing football. Because he is massively out of shape, Craig also has next to no stamina, and cannot either engage in strenuous activity for long or flee from trouble if he has to.

Designated Number: Male Student No. 83

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Designated Weapon: Claymore Mine

Conclusion: An artist? Maybe Boy 83 can use his mine to create a work of art for me. Something in the vein of Jackson Pollock, using the veins of his classmates. It would definitely be a conversation piece.

'The above biography is as written by MK Kilmarnock. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: MK Kilmarnock

Kills: None

Killed By: Nik Kronwall

Collected Weapons: Claymore Landmine (assigned weapon)

Allies: Trent Savage, Haruka Watanabe

Enemies: None (not even Nik)

Mid-game Evaluation: Craig woke up behind the ranger's station on the island, still clearly suffering the effects of the sedatives used to put the students to sleep. Unable to comprehend much of anything, he made his way towards the closest building he could find, stepping directly over the sleeping Trent Savage in the process. Eventually joining up with Trent, Craig sacrificed some of his energy to drag Trent to the entrance of the cabin, where they were met with a less-than-friendly greeting from Rosa Fiametta, among others. Once Trent mysteriously and suddenly awoke, Craig followed him out of the building.

On day two, Craig and Trent found themselves in the residential district, listening to the announcements with disbelief that such things could be happening. They mostly stayed put for the entire day until, on day 3, they finally emerged and rested near the fountain. Several other students joined them, including Nik Kronwall. Nik was only looking for a place to rest, but the possibility of him being a killer (Craig was unsure whether he or Staffan had killed) was enough to have Craig try and turn him away. Tensions got rough from the misunderstanding and, following a quick struggle, Craig was accidentally shot in the abdomen. Rather than condemn Nik, Craig insisted that it wasn't his fault, and even smiled before finally dying.

Post-Game Evaluation: You know what they say, poor communication kills! Between two dumb jocks, as well... really, was anybody surprised?

Memorable Quotes: "Don't blame yourself... th-... people make mistakes. D-Doesn't mean you're any less of a good guy!" - Craig's last words, to Nik Kronwall

Other/Trivia

 * Craig Hoyle is the heaviest V4 student. He is also frequently cast as The Blob in X-Men adaptations.
 * Craig will appear in Second Chances on the Mini, under new handler Aura Master Fox.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Craig, in chronological order

The Past:

No threads

Pre-game:
 * Second lap, same as the first!
 * Going Balls Deep
 * The Night's Still Young

V4:
 * One of Three
 * Laurel and Hardy Got NOTHIN' on Us
 * Fountain of Youth

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Craig Hoyle. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * I liked Craig a lot. It was cool to see a fat kid who wasn't a total joke, and he had some great moments. He was kind and helpful, the sort of character where you can't see him living long in the game but you feel so bad for him when he inevitably does get killed. Oh, also, too bad Hera didn't get into the game. That'd have given Craig a bit more to do, I think. I liked their plotline a lot. - MurderWeasel